No longer the underdog, the No. 7 Ducks (15-4 overall, 4-3 Pacific-10 Conference) look to stave off a pair of Pac-10 upsets this weekend when the Arizona State Sun Devils (10-10, 1-6) and the Arizona Wildcats (13-6, 3-4) visit McArthur Court. These conference games will be followed by a matchup with Utah on Monday night.
All the games start at 7 p.m., with Arizona State on Friday night and Arizona on Saturday.
The Arizona schools have shown brilliance at moments this season, but they look to put it all together and keep the gap between the top of the conference and the bottom of the conference close. As of today, Oregon is tied with No. 10 UCLA at 4-3 for fourth place, followed by No. 14 USC and Arizona at 3-4.
“They’re both always tough, but turning around to play Utah will show us what we will see in the NCAA tournament,” senior Kristen Forristall said.
In preparation for the weekend, here’s a brief scouting report on the Sun Devils and the Wildcats.
Arizona State
Oregon is 9-35 against the Sun Devils all-time, something coach Moore doesn’t need to be reminded of. He is 2-4 against Arizona State, and knows exactly where he stands with them.
“We lost to them in Eugene last year,” he says. “It was in four sets, I know that much. They’ll be tough like always.”
The Sun Devils will also be slightly younger. With the loss of seven letterwinners, first-year head coach Jason Watson had to bring in six freshmen to fill their spots. The young team has struggled at times, posting a .500 record through the first half of the season.
Even Arizona State’s best player has only been with the team one year. Outside hitter Sarah Reaves is only a sophomore, but in her freshman year she led the team in kills, only the second time a newcomer has done that for the Sun Devils.
Reaves was named to the All Pac-10 Freshman Team in 2007, as well as All Pac-10 Honorable Mention. The last time she was in Eugene she set a career high in kills with 28. Her team lost, but she’s had a history of performing well against the Ducks.
Leading the young Devils is senior outside hitter Margie Giordano. The 2005 All Pac-10 Freshman Team selection was All Pac-10 Honorable Mention alongside Reaves. She was the only player on the team to play in every game of the season, and she is the emotional leader of the team.
Coming into Friday night’s game, the Sun Devils are 1-8 in their last nine games, including straight set losses to Arizona, No. 4 California, No. 5 Stanford, and No. 10 UCLA. Their last win came almost a month ago on Sept. 27 when they swept last-place Washington State in Tempe.
Arizona
Oregon is 11-36 against the University of Arizona, but like most of the past two years, Moore and his team have made it a habit of breaking trends. The only two teams in the Pac-10 who own any significant win streak over the Ducks are Washington and Stanford. Against the Wildcats, coach Moore is 3-3, including the last three times they’ve played.
The Wildcats have been on the verge of a breakthrough the entire season. Since the very first ranking the American Volleyball Coaches Association put out, Arizona has been receiving votes in the top 25. This week they received 78 points, putting them only 13 points out of cracking the list.
Arizona is led by senior Randy Goodenough, a three year letterwinner who led the team in kills average last year at 3.73 kills per game. In addition to Goodenough, there’s sophomore Tiffany Owens, who averaged 3.44 kills per game and redshirt sophomore Whitney Dosty. Dosty missed the entire 2007 season with a knee injury, but she was an All Pac-10 Freshman Team member in 2006 and ranks second all-time in Arizona history for kills by a freshman.
These three girls will be key to Arizona’s game plan if they hope to crack Oregon’s much-improved defense. Sophomore setter Paige Weber will have to get Oregon’s middle blockers Neticia Enesi and Forristall to miss with her passes.
Last weekend the Wildcats split with No. 10 Stanford and No. 14 USC. They lost to the Bruins in four sets, but beat USC in five. That win has given the team confidence, and heading into this weekend’s games in Oregon, their coach said that a big win against a ranked team is a hard step to take, but it’s easier from there.
Forristall was confident at practice Tuesday when discussing this weekend. She said that preparing for Pac-10 teams is fairly straightforward because you know what to expect. The real test, she says, is going to be the Utah game on Monday.
“We know what (Arizona State and Arizona) will do, and how to prepare for them,” she said.
Moore agreed, saying that’s life in the Pac-10. Every weekend brings a new set of challenges, and this is business as usual.
“All these matches will be very, very big matches, but we had a stretch where we played six matches against top 25 teams and five of those were against top 10 teams,” he said. “So, we just have to execute, and we will be fine.”
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